Scope bad??

[loworange88]

Hey everyone, I have an inexpensive Bushnell Scope on my Muzzy, and last season I had a loose scope mount and didnt realize it. So after a hand full of shots I finally found the culprit of why I couldnt hit the broad side of a barn. I tightened the scope mount, added loctite to all the screws, and went back to the range and shot it a few times, got it back on paper, but didnt really dial it in....Until Now. So it was 6" high with good windage at 100yards. After a dirty bore 2nd shot it was 6" low....I swabbed the barrel and again 6" high....I moved the scope down 24 clicks...1/4" at 100yards as indicated on the scope dials....Clean bore shot after adjust is 4 inches low decent windage. So I moved the crosshairs up, and now its gets weird, it shot lower and to the right, and as I tried to adjust it, it keeps getting worse. So I tried to go back the other way, why not...It continued to move out, so by the time I packed it up tonight, I was about a foot low, and about 3-4 inches right. I moved the xhairs in the opposite direction of POI, and it kept getting worse. On the flip side, I had my .270 with me tonight which has a Nikon Prostaff scope on it. At 100 yards it was about an inch low and an inch to the right, I followed the same procedure as I did with my Muzz, and with 6 shots, I have the rifle dead nuts at 100 yards. Never traveled outside the 2" bullseye mark with moving the scope the opposite direction as the POI. So with all that, I am concluding that my scope is damaged on the Muzz?!? I guess I will have to take the scope off and settle with the Iron sights for this season and buy a new quality scope for next season.

Any one else ever have this type of experience with a scope?

Mat Rhode

[bubba]

I would tend to think it is the load you are shoooting isnt agreeing with the gun. Did you shoot it through the sites? Try it with the irons and see how it shoots. I would suspect it is the load not the scope. On my H&R sidekick, I have a 4x32 bushnell on it and it has worked flawlessly for 4 years.

Edited October 11, 2011 by bubba

[loworange88]

Hey Bubba, I'm using the same load as I have since I bought the gun. 777 pellets (100g) 295g Powerbelt hollow point, and 777 209 primer. The ONLY thing that would be "different" if you will, would be that my powder is 2 years old now. I have 25% of my powder left over, I wont buy more probably until I'm almost out, as I dont usually shoot my Muzzy as much as I would say my .22 or my Rifle.

I'm not sure if "old" powder would cause that or not.

[loworange88]

OH, I havent shot thru the sights yet, I'll have to remove the scope to put the irons back on. Hopefully this weekend I can get out with it after I do that.

Thanks.

[Doc]

If you want to check out the scope, just take the ML scope and put it on your rifle and see what happens. That assumes that the mounts are compatible.

[G-Man]

your gun might like a dirty bore you either need to clean between everyshot to sight in clean or sight in with a dirty barrel and definatly buy some new powder!! Did you bore site it at all after tighting mounts?

Edited October 12, 2011 by G-Man

[loworange88]

Nope on the bore sighting...I had 2 clean shots when I first took it back out that were 6" high...lets back up a bit...first shot was clean bore and cold....6" high at 100, and 1/2" right. Second shot dirty bore, warm barrel....6" low and 1/2" or so left. Third shot was a clean bore, and cool barrel, 6" high right next to the first shot. I started to move the scope accordingly and thats when I opened up a ball of wax. Last season BEFORE the scope mount incident, that thing would group under 2" groups out at 100 yards, with 3 shots (first clean, second and third, dirty). Then I'd clean the barrel to shoot again.

Usually for quick cleans, I run a wet patch through to get the majority of it out, and dry patch it clean.

For fouled really dirty barrel, I use the foaming bore cleaner and let it sit over night and then dry patch the hell out of it and finish it off with a light film of Bore Butter.

Tonight after a proper cleaning, I removed the scope and put the fiber sights back on. I'll take it back to the range one of these evenings and see if I can get it back to some sort of normal shooting. I plan on starting at 50 yards, then out to 100.

Who knows, maybe I'll like the open sights better.

[KenAxe-7]

I put a Nikon ProStaff 3-9x40 ($150) on my Savage ML10 and it has never failed. Clover leaf groups at 100 yards. Like the old saying. Buy a $50 gun but put a $200 scope on it.

Edited October 13, 2011 by KenAxe-7

[loworange88]

I have a prostaff on my .270. Great scope. I think I'll suffer with the fibers this season, and then I'll save my pennies for a Nikon Scope for the Muzz.

[JMP]

I was just going through the same problem. Picked up a Trad. Vortek UL. I had a bushnell scope hanging around in the gun cabinet. Could not for the life of me get that thing dialed in. I tried a few different loads and still nothing. Out of curosity I threw my varmit rifle scope on and bingo! 3 shots w/ 150gr.777 295gr. powerbilt I was dead nuts at 100yrds.

[RifleSharpShot]

Bushnell sucks it really does,,I had one one my 30-06 and the power of the gun broke the reticle in the scope..Some people will say that doesnt sound right or what not but thats what happen after about 100 maybe 150 shot i had to sight in my scope every shot..I thought it was the rings so i bought new rings had the scope remounted with the new rights it shot great for the first 2 shots,and then it started going back off,,So after i missed the first buck i ever shot at and went threw allthat mess i got a nikon buckmaster and have laid down anything ive shot at sense!!

[JMP]

Bushnell sucks it really does,,I had one one my 30-06 and the power of the gun broke the reticle in the scope..Some people will say that doesnt sound right or what not but thats what happen after about 100 maybe 150 shot i had to sight in my scope every shot..I thought it was the rings so i bought new rings had the scope remounted with the new rights it shot great for the first 2 shots,and then it started going back off,,So after i missed the first buck i ever shot at and went threw allthat mess i got a nikon buckmaster and have laid down anything ive shot at sense!!

A good friend of mine that is a gun nut, said the same thing to me when I told him what happened. He said "throw that piece of s%^& in the garabage and get a Nikon.

[fasteddie]

I have a Bushnell Sportview 1.5 X 4.5 on my NEF Huntsman and never had a problem .

[RifleSharpShot]

I'm shure there are some good bushnell scopes out there somewere lol,,Heck i bought one and i was highly disappointed when it broke i really coouldn't belive it.My personal opinion buy the right scope once and you won't have to worry about buying another one!I went threw a simons scope witch came with the gun it was horrible,,The i though i upgraded when i bought the bushnell but i was wrong,,So i finally did took some time to look at revewis and a few youtube videos witch all led me to the nikon buckmaster and it's great i will be getting another one for my 243. next year!!Good luck!!

[RifleSharpShot]

And i forgot to tell ya i lost my first buck off a missed shot due to a bad scope and it was horrible!!But you live and you learns and iv'e gotten everone since!!

[wny9p]

My opinion is that your ML problem is the load or loading procedure. Make sure that you seat your bullet the same way every time. DUMP THE POWERBELTS because I don't think they seat or seal as consistently as a sabot. At least two of my hunting partners, one shooting a Knight and the other a TC Encore, have found that the Powerbelts are VERY inconsistent. When they changed to 250gr Sabots their MLs became much more consistent.

My profile picture is the buck I took on 11/25 this year with my TC Encore .50cal ML and 4-9 Bushnell scope. I'm zeroed at 100 yards. He was about 120 yards out and the bullet hit him exactly where I aimed. I was loaded with 100gr (2 pellets) of American Pioneer powder and a 250gr Hornady Sabot. I used a run-of-the-mill Winchester primer. I should mention that the powder is over 5 years old. He went straight down after he was hit, never to take another step. I love my Encore and except for an occasional outing with a M94 .30-30 is the only long gun I hunt whitetails with.

[TreeGuy]

Don't know if this will help but, I have a tc and a fairly inexpensive truglo scope. 777's x2, 245 gr tc sabots. When I first started the sight in process it took no time to zero at 50yrds. When i moved to 100 I was all over, high, low, left etc. I was never really more than 6-8" off center but I was not confident with it. I ended up getting 250 powerbelts with the understanding they were more accurate. Incorrect, at least for my tc. Now I'm figuring It's the scope. So before I went to irons, I wanted some more advice and went to my local shop vs Gander or dicks. Right away they asked me what my setup was and told me I was crazy for shooting 245 and 250gr sabots. I took their advice and got 300gr tc sabots. My goodness, I can shoot golfball sized groups @ 200 yrds ! I think ur best bet is to do some e-searching and see what the best setup is for your specific ml and go from there. It may not be the scope.... I have a 500$ ml with a 100$ scope and it is a tack driver. Just my .o2 good luck, I know ur frustration all too well

[RifleSharpShot]

If its a bushnell just throw it away and get a nikon lol!!Good luck on your scope hunt.

[loworange88]

Hey everyone, thanks for the replies. Well I'm back to my Fiber sights for now. My load has been the same for 3 years and prior to last season, I could keep a 1" group at 100yards with the 777 and Powerbelts, so I'm ruling out the possibility that the inaccuracy is due to my loads. I should have mentioned that. After I found that loose scope mount it was never the same, even after tightening it back down with loctite. I'll be hunting for a Nikon Prostaff, just like on my rifle for the muzz, I'm happy with that scope.